The cards, the letters, the photographs … they still flood
in from across the globe. A full 50 years later, folks haven't forgotten the
feat of one of America's greatest Winter Olympic heroes.

"I don't get as many as I used to, but every week a new bunch
comes in," said McDermott of his postal packet from well-wishers, autograph-seekers
and far-off admirers.

Stories like McDermott's — of passion and persistence, of
spirit and spunk and, namely, of victory over the mighty Soviet Union — hold their
motivational and inspirational value for all time. When the Essexville
speedskater roared to the 500-meter gold medal in the 1964 Olympic Games in Innsbruck,
Austria, he came to represent all that was good about the American way.

"So much is going to happen out there, with the ice and wind
and the cold," said Dick Somalski, the Hampton Township business owner who introduced
McDermott to speedskating. "But, with Terry, nothing really bothered him.

"He had a lot of guts to go after it the way he did."

As the 2014 Winter Olympics unfold in Sochi, Russia,
McDermott and his family, friends and followers can revel in the 50-year
anniversary of the Essexville Rocket's race to glory, when he brought home the
only gold medal claimed by the United States in the 1964 Games.

In the heart of the Cold War, where the Soviets were making
a push for superiority — and were accomplishing it in the athletic arena by
dominating the Winter Games of 1956, 1960 and 1964 — the U.S. was hungry for a
hero to emerge. Training on the rinks of the Bay County Fairgrounds, McDermott
got the idea he just might be the man.

"I skated in the time trials for nationals (in 1959), and that's
the first time I started thinking I had a chance," said McDermott, who would go
on to place seventh in the 1960 Olympic Games in Squaw Valley, Calif.

"At the 1960
Olympics, I realized I had room for improvement. I knew my technique could get
better and I would get stronger. So the next four years I trained hard."

In the weeks leading up to the 1964 Games, McDermott began
to emerge as a force among sprinters, and he headed to Austria bent on bringing
back a medal. But, outside of the speedskating community, he remained a
relative unknown and even those near to him weren't banking on a gold.

"Nobody had the money to go with him, so he went by himself,"
said Virginia McDermott, who was then his wife of just five months. "If we
would have had any inkling he was going to win, we probably would have borrowed
the money. I'm sure he thought he had a shot, but I don't know if the rest of
the world gave him a shot."

Few did, as all eyes were turned to the USSR's Eugeny
Grishin, who had dominated the sport with four Olympic gold medals and an
unbeaten international record the previous eight years.

"That was the country you wanted to beat, and that wasn't
just the Americans but the Dutch and the Norweigans … everybody wanted to beat
the Russians," McDermott said. "They were the first group to basically train
like professionals and do nothing but work on their sport.

"There was a Cold War at the time and we weren't getting
along with Russia, but the athletes didn't really get into the political
aspect. We all wanted to win for our own countries, but not for political
reasons."

Grishin was among a trio of skaters to post a 40.5 in the first set, giving McDermott even more cause for optimism when he took the ice in the second set as the 17th pairing of the day.

"My stomach was churning the whole day of the competition. I
couldn't wait until it was my turn to go," he said.

"You skate that race
in your mind over and over. How you want to skate, how you want to set up the
turns, how you want to skate the last 100 meters. Those last 100 meters, your
legs get weak so it's very important to hold your technique."

Essexville native Terry McDermott is now 73 and wintering in Fort Myers, Fla., where he is an avid golfer.Courtesy photo

McDermott nailed it, rocketing off the starting line,
zipping through all the turns and dashing down the final stretch for a stunning
time of 40.1 seconds that shattered the Olympic record.

"Oh yes, I knew it was special," he said. "I knew I had a
medal won and I figured it was going to be the gold.

"Afterward, I heard the announcers were saying they were expecting
Bill Disney or Ed Rudolph to be the best hope for the U.S. — and along comes Terry McDermott."

People who were not familiar with McDermott prior to his
gold-medal moment certainly were after it. He quickly became celebrated
nationwide, with appearances on the Today Show and alongside the Beatles during
their storied American television debut on the Ed Sullivan Show on Feb. 9,
1964. He also received a congratulatory telegram from President Lyndon Johnson.

Back home, the son of Joseph and Exora McDermott had created
a legacy. He was greeted at the airport and paraded to a massive celebration in
downtown Bay City, complete with a visit from Gov. George Romney.

McDermott returned to the Olympics in 1968 in Grenoble,
France, where he served as the U.S. flag bearer at the Opening Ceremonies then added
a silver medal-finish to his resume. He would return to the Winter Games 13
times while representing U.S. Speedskating in several capacities, taking the
Olympic oath on behalf of all judges at the 1980 Games in Lake Placid, N.Y.

Today at age 73, McDermott resides in Bloomfield Hills and
winters in Fort Myers, Fla. The father of five and grandfather of 11 is retired
as a manufacturing business owner.

But he still gets those cards and letters. And he still has
his memories of the day he stood tall for Team USA.

"Getting that Olympic medal put around you and hearing the National Anthem playing," he said. "It makes you proud to be an American."